Final answer:
The first group to actively help runaway slaves were the Quakers, who founded the world's first antislavery society in 1775 in Philadelphia. Their early efforts laid the groundwork for later individuals such as Harriet Tubman.
Step-by-step explanation:
The first group to actively help runaway slaves were the Quakers. In 1775, the Quakers, also known as the Society of Friends, founded the world's first antislavery society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This pacifist Christian sect held deep convictions about the inner light within every individual, which led them to espouse racial and gender equality, view slavery as immoral, and start organized movements against it. Although some Quakers owned slaves before the American Revolution, their pioneering efforts were crucial in the early anti-slavery campaign.
Later, figures like Harriet Tubman, who was born Araminta "Minty" Ross and other individuals played significant roles in supporting the Underground Railroad. Tubman herself escaped slavery and then bravely returned many times to the South to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people, including her family members. However, her actions, while heroic, came after the initial efforts by the Quakers.